I thought it only fitting that I create a Explain Everything video for my final project. I found this process very useful as it put me in the position I place my students. They are reflexing on their learning just as I am. I enjoyed choosing the visuals. I only use in order to protect my students' privacy. I am also hate having my picture taken so there won't be a photo of me in the video either. I am finding the audio part a challenge just like me students. The mic picks up a lot of the background noise which bugs me. In my class students have had to use the back closet to have a quiet area to record. I would love to put sound effects in the video but as of yet haven't figured out how to do that.
I decided to change things up for this unit. I had my students complete a math project not a final test. I wanted to see if the practice of using their math vocabulary in their scavanger hunts would transfer to paper. I am happy to report that they were comfortable with using vocabulary. I did notice that the motivation is higher using technology rather than paper and pencil. The challenge with this project was the amount of items they were to include. Many student left information out. I noticed that it was the informat we didn't cover using math journal. I am not sure if that is the connect or if it was the amount of items they need to include. I do find that having many items to include can be a real challenge for students to keep track of.
See Math Makes Sense grade 6 Quilt Block final project for more information on this final project. The class has has been learning about angles. To help practice these skills they were divided into groups of four and sent on a angle scavenger hunt around the school. Each student was to find an example of the following angles: ACUTE, OBTUSE, RIGHT, STRAIGHT, REFLEX. Then they were to combine their photos on Explain Everything. They were to 1) Hi-light the angle 2) Name it 3) Measure it. One group created a checklist to help track their angles. It was so good that we created a typed version for all the groups. The groups did really well!!
We are starting to have more and more technical difficulties. First, Google Drive with the Ipads updated and now the passcode feature is gone. Before the update, multiple students could be logged into drive but they would have a 4 digit passcode in order to prevent others going into their drive. The new update has eliminated this feature which makes things more complicated. Many times now students have uploaded their videos into another students drive who was using the ipad previously. This mistake gave the class a chance to learn the importance of logging out!!!
Next the Chromebooks have been having more and more issue. I have had to return a Chromebook to the IT department because it won't access the school's wifi. Today, we got a new one. Every time the student would open or type of the Chromebook the screen would shake. Super annoying!! I will probably have to send that Chromebook back into the IT department to be fixed as well. That will leave us with only 3 working chromebooks. I am finding the probems most frustrating. I can't get them fixed in a timely manner which means we must do without for long periods of time until they can get fixed. I am very lucky that the class is flexible and can roll with things. Some classes don't have that ablility. My focus in Digital Citizenship was Digital Security (self-protection). When this project began I informed my students to not put their full names on their projects or their names at all. Many of my students looked at me funny because this is very opposite to what I ask them to do with their other assignments. This opened up the conversation about who will be viewing and how public our videos will be. I told them it was safer to not put their names on the assignments. Why? My website which houses the blog and videos is public. We don't know who will be viewing. One students mentioned that we also doesn't know if they will "sample" or use parts of our videos either. In addition, when taking pictures I shot the backs of their heads in order to protect their identity. I think for some students this was the first time they thought about who can see things they post on-line and that they might want to keep things private. Also, the class doesn't know what the user name I use to upload videos to You-tube because I had wanted to make them private but couldn't. They had to be made public so others can view them. I want to protect them from negative comments that can happen on You-tube, All of these measures are done to protect their privacy and identity. Math journals are difficult for students because they usually ask the students to write about their math understanding. The act of writing can limit what students communicate becuase it isn't what math usually requires. However, with the use of technology my aim is to make students feel more comfortable and thus communicate to the best of their ablilty. I have created a math classroom on Google Classroom in order for students to access the information and hand in their final creations easily. I have created 6 prompts or questions based on the math unit we are currently finishing. They have been asked to chose one to answer either in Google Slides or on the iPads using Explain Everything. I have attached a rubic to the assignment so students will know what criteria I am looking for. I am excited to see what students come up with!
The class completed their Year in Review Videos and Slide shows. They turned out great! Here are a couple examples.
The class has been having fun creating their videos. However, we have run into some technical difficulties. One was that we didn't have enough iPads to go around. Explain Everything was a true hit but we only had about 4 working iPads at one time. I will continue to work with the IT department to get them all running in the right direction. Some students have decided to use Google slides to create their video instead. The process is taking a bit longer than I thought it would but I know the students are engaged.
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SetBC Tech Project BlogAuthorAnne Syme Grade 6 teacher. Div. 17 is participating in a SetBC Technology Project this year. This blog is the story of that adventure! Archives
May 2018
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